Used 2018 Nissan LEAF Hatchback Consumer Reviews
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Fantastic car
Phil Easler , 03/26/2018
2018 Nissan LEAF S 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
32 of 32 people found this review helpful
Electric car driver since December 2012. This is my 3rd leased/purchase ev. Great value, I got the quick charged option and heated seats/ steering wheel out the door for $22K. I don’t need to charge it up every day, but when I do the guess o meter ranges from 160 -187 so far. I have owned or lease the vehicle for about 1.5 months and have around 1300 miles on the clock. You will need a 220/240 charger to get the most out of the vehicle. Charges at 6.6 kwt/ hour ~ 22 miles of charge per hour from a 240 dedicated charger. I have only fast charged it at two Nissan dealerships twice. It put in around 15 kwatts in about 30 mins about 50 miles of driving. Hoping to see 200 miles on the range meter this summer!!
Best 2nd car I've ever owned.
Brian, 09/14/2018
2018 Nissan LEAF SV 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
52 of 53 people found this review helpful
Let me start out by saying I'm not what you would think of as a typical EV owner. I'm not some tree hugger out to save the planet. My motivations for buying this car were purely economical. I'm also 6'3" tall and about 240 lbs. This car is very comfortable for me. I can't recommend the leaf car enough, but there is of course one small catch. For most of us the leaf cannot be the primary family vehicle. I'm a father of 2 living in a suburban area. I fly a lot for work but my office is less than 10 miles from my house. For around town and to the airport this is absolutely the perfect car. The one problem is of course the range and charging speed. If this were the family's only car we couldn't take this on vacation. If my destination is over 50 miles away I don't feel comfortable taking it with the family. While 150 miles is a real number in city driving range it is more like 110 in highway driving (if you drive 75 like most of us). Those are the downsides. The upside is that it is great to drive. Great ride, great acceleration, corners nicely. But most importantly I have NO gas or Gas equivalent bill. Nissan includes 2 years of free charging at every major charging network. I have a charging station in my parking garage at work. I have never once charged this thing at home. I have actually used many fast charging stations. When I go into the city (which is about 75 miles away) I stop at one of the fast chargers on the highway and grab dinner / lunch on the trip in or out. In 1/2 hour I can charge about 80 miles worth of charge. I've never had to wait for a station to be available. Also, the scheduled maintenance on this is really a joke. It consists of rotating tires, checking the brakes and replacing your cabin air filter ($12 on amazon). I got my SV for 30000 out the door including sales tax. 7500 federal and 2500 state credits brought that number down to $20000. I can fit my 2 small children in their booster seats easily in the back. The trunk has plenty of room for a Costco run. I get compliments on the looks of this car almost every day. Its not a Tesla but its a sharp car. Previous generation leafs were kind of weird looking to me. This is a much better looking car than the Bolt. Anyway, if you're in a position where your daily commute is less than 100 miles round trip, and you have another Car in the family for longer trips, I can't recommend the leaf enough.
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Great Family Car for Generations
David Radzieta, 01/23/2019
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
26 of 26 people found this review helpful
We purchased the 2018 Model slightly used so the tax credits were passed on to us. It was a factory rep car. We have owned 8 of the Consumer Reports top 20 most reliable cars of the last decade. We have found our LEAFs to be more reliable and better built than any of the Camrys, Corollas, SR5, CRV, or Prius we have owned. The LEAF is on that list. All three of us now drive LEAFs since the used EVs are excellent bargains. We also get an over night discount on our power bill so it cost nothing to charge the car. It only takes 2 seconds to plug in the car and the next morning it is ready to go again. You do not need an EV with a 400 mile range like a gas car to go paycheck to paycheck without visiting the filling station. Just make sure the EV model you select has twice the range of your daily commute. You need extra range for heat, AC, and extra errands. I'll let you in on a secret, the LION battery sweet spot is 20-80% charge. If you use your EV daily in the 20-80% charge range and save 100-0% cycles for trips out of town to Granny's house it might just last a lifetime. Certainly last 2x to 4x the battery warranty period. Enjoy! The LEAF is a great family car, one of the best.
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Great Electric Car!!!
Marvin Blaine, 10/18/2018
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
22 of 22 people found this review helpful
This is my favorite car in the 50 years I've been driving and I've owned a different car every three years. This 2018 Nissan Leaf SL has got it all, comfort, leather interior, bose audio system and a tech package. Even comes with a 220 and a 110 charger.
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No Nonsense simplicity
LovemyLeaf, 05/08/2019
updated 11/10/2022
2018 Nissan LEAF SV 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
14 of 14 people found this review helpful
I owned a 2013, kept it a year and a half, tons of range anxiety with it, one time, in the winter, 32F, raining, on the back roads, only 60 miles range... ouch. Bought a 2018, 40kw battery, better HP, range, comfort, features (got the tech package), driver assist rocks. E brake.. not my cup of tea, freeway, dry roads, about 135 miles @ 65mph. The heater on the 2018 is a power guzzler, funny thing is the AC is not, AC hardly impacts range, with the 2018, another nasty winter night, 32F, wet, just 115 miles range. Heater appears to use about 12% of the battery. (if used all the time, I live in WA..) Summer time, I got 165 miles @62 mph a couple of times, no AC though, didn't need it. If you drive 70+, know where the charging stations are, you will only get about 110 miles (no reserve). 2018 is much better than my previous 2013, not just because of the 40kw btry either, just all around, I do miss the nose camera, but not that much. No CD player, but I loaded a USB flash drive with MP3's, no issues, so an adjustment, but better. Edmunds is right, a telescoping steering wheel would be nice. **UPDATE** Still love the car. I use my own charger, 3.3Kw, which charges overnight without issue. I have used the EVGO and other Dc chargers (CHAdeMO) a few times, usually takes about 35 min, for the 80% charge. EVGO will actually go to 100%, but the charge rate really slows down. Still getting 160 miles on my home charge, cold and wet (winter is coming) still uses 12-15% extra. I figured out I can use recirculating heat if you use mix vents, this reduces the heater power, but windows will fog up a little if it is wet outside. Summer I averaged 4.2mpk (miles per kilowatt) winter 3.7mpk, after more than a year with the car, still wouldn't trade it. Looked at the 2019 and 2020, but $7k more for the 60Kw battery just wouldn't be a good match for me. The number of DC stations is ever increasing (all be it slowly). Sure would be nice if Nissan would let you use the car app for free (monthly subscription after the first 6 months). ***UPDATE*** My 2018 is still rock'n and rollin. It now has 50K miles, still the original tires, yes they are getting close, but wow. I use a home charger mostly, 3.6Kw setting, we are still getting 145miles range on a charge, no battery degradation, zero issues. Quite amazed. My 2019, not so much, 60Kw, already lost 25miles on the range, 2 years, 32K miles. Now the charger control module has failed, fortunately under warranty. Love my 2018, just wish it had the 60Kw battery, sometimes.
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Flawless in first 10 months
Ryan Gildersleeve, 02/28/2019
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
27 of 29 people found this review helpful
Excellent pep and super fun to drive. Haven’t had a single glitch or quality issue after 10 months and 7k miles. Super reliable. Added snow tires and it tackles bad weather with the ease of my former compact SUV. The eco-pedal is life altering; I never have to use the brake pedal. The interior heater is amazing, fires up super quick in winter. The adaptive cruise control is great and works all the way down to 0mph. Lastly, the car is SO quiet. There is very little wind, tire, or road noise and zero interior squeaks or rattles. A couple of negatives though. The lack of telescope steering wheel really sucks. The A-pillars can block the view so be sure to check for that. The Bose subwoofer in trunk sounds good but a terrible design of the placement by Nissan. Sometimes Apple Car Play doesn’t load. I just have to plug it back in a second time and it works. Passenger seat is slightly less comfortable than driver. The 151 mile EPA range is easily met if mainly city driving. If driving on interstates at 70mph or more, the range is more like 130 miles.
5 years in--the worst car I have ever owned
Dan, 05/25/2018
updated 12/05/2022
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
31 of 34 people found this review helpful
This is an update after 5 years--I truly hate this car--and given the resale value so does everyone else. The battery continues to be the main problem--it just cannot make for a reliable drive. Once the battery warms up--about 75 miles, the range nosedives. MANY times on my drive home I get an excessive heat warning--and a little turtle icon lights up on the dashboard and power is cut to the point that passing another car is difficult. (The fact that there even IS a turtle icon shows that Nissan anticipated this problem). I live on a hill, and getting the car home is a challenge due to extremely low power. NISSAN knows this--they don't care. Here is my original post:: There are some things prospective buyers need to know. The range is overly optimistic--I am a smooth--non-hot-shot driver--I get about 120 miles on a charge--not 150. Be wary of planning a trip that involves hills--the incline eats energy. The car is very comfortable and the interior--while not a wow factor is well above average. The problem? NISSAN dealerships and support. After only 2 weeks the pro-pilot assist went out, and the pedestrian braking never worked. One dealer had it 3 days saying they were waiting for Nissan corporate to look at it--but couldn't say when that would be. I returned it to the dealer where I purchased it and have been told it will be 7 business days to get a new sensor that "might" fix it. I called Nissan EV support--the first complaint never got logged--the second one did, and at least they agreed to reimburse gas. I was without my new car for 3 weeks because of weekends and a holiday not included in the business day estimate. At this point I wish I had put those dollars elsewhere. I paid cash. So that was my review almost 3 years ago. UPDATE--NOW?? I hate this car! Everything I said previously still stands but with more insight: The battery thermal management makes driving anywhere over 50 miles a crap shoot because once the car goes that distance adding more energy for the return trip becomes problematic. The battery simply will not accept a full charge, possibly only allowing 10% charge with each "fill-up". Without going into the details; a return trip from a location 90 miles away took 7 hours! Once the battery decided it was too hot I limped from charging station to charging station and towards the end max speed was only 40 miles an hour. That doesn't happen anymore because I don't drive that sort of distance. Yes---this is a runabout town car--no more than that. The autopilot assist is also very sketchy. It barely keeps the car "centered" in a lane--often wandering over the line. (In its defense--the car is not considered self-driving) but the function is mostly useless. Through all of this? Nissan continues to be unsupportive. DO NOT buy this car! Update after 3 1/2 years: The car continues to underwhelm. My range has dropped from 120 miles on a full charge (when newly purchased) to about 100. This glorified golf cart is nothing a modern electric car should be. At least when it was new I had free charging for two years--now that I am paying I am careful about nonessential trips. I never drive more than 75 miles from home since recharging is so difficult due to issues prviously discussed.
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Great to drive, but poor cockpit design.
Chris Harnish, 11/12/2018
updated 05/18/2022
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
12 of 13 people found this review helpful
I love driving this car. Responsive, quiet, I love the e-peddle and Adaptive Cruise Control, But it's missing the small storage spaces in the driving compartment that changes from liking the car to Loving the the car. My former Prius, had a much bigger storage compartment under the right arm rest, a 2 door glove box that allows me to store little conveniences like my hairbrush, lip balm and aspirin in an organized way. The Leaf has none of these. In addition, the center console arm rest is too small and too far back and between it and the shift, where your arm should normally rest, are the two water bottle holders, so if your arm is resting on the arm rest, it has to be on top of the water bottle! What were they thinking??? 2 years later and I agree with everything said above: I love driving the car and the cockpit is a big disappointment. The new news is how economical the Leaf is to drive. Maintenance is rotating the tires! The 150 mile range of of my model is plenty for me for around-the-county driving. I installed a level 2 charging system at home for around $100 and use that almost exclusively. I love never having to go to a gas station. A good car, which I would buy again.
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Unacceptable at the price range
J, 09/21/2020
updated 09/23/2021
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
At 28k miles, a little over 2 years lease I've had problems since day 1 with a noise coming from the front right wheel when turning, dealerships have looked at it and could never find the issue with it, still happening today. AC does not cool nearly fast enough, steering wheel heating is unreliable. Range, in real life driving scenarios it's not 150, more like 100-110. Charging on the road is definitely not up to what Nissan promises (rapidgate). Steering wheel bubbled and needs to be replaced. Front seat upholstery is already damaged, I wear cotton clothes and park inside a garage so there's really no excuse for this. The infotainment system... clunky, the mobile app, awful, slow and unreliable. My 2003 BMW does not have any of the problems exposed above, 2003 with 150k+ miles Good things: Really nice drive, very responsive and quiet. Doesn't look like a frog . Charging at home is very nice. All in all, your money is better spent elsewhere.
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Not turning over a new LEAF. Update 23,000
Jim, 08/18/2018
updated 09/13/2023
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
Great economy and performance. First thousand miles required $25 of electricity vs $75 in gasoline for an ICE AT 30 mpg. E pedal is great for hilly driving. Poor cross traffic alert system. No hooks for bags in cargo area. Ongoing problems with popping and cracking noise from front of the car. Four attempts have been made to correct the problem under warranty. Repairs included new front hub, servicing front breaking mechanism, repair/replace transmission and replacement of left front axle. Last repair three weeks ago. So far, successful. No other problems. Car continues to be extremely economical to operate. Finally in the fall of 2020 the popping and cracking noise was fixed. The solution was replacing the left front axle. Overall the car continues to perform very well. Over 5000 miles on odometer. Excellent suburban runabout. Extremely quiet and very efficient. The 150 mile range works very well for us. Usually charge the car at home two or three times per week. Recent six months service amounted to tire rotation and car wash only. Over a year old. Tire rotations have been the only service. Full charge range is about 160 miles. Very inexpensive to operate. Perfect second car. Now over 13000 on the Leaf. Extremely economical to operate. We took the car in to the dealership for warranty work two times to fix a popping noise in the front end of the car when applying the brakes or accelerating from a stop. During the first repair attempt something was replaced in the hub assemblies free of charge. During the second repair attempt the brake mechanisms were cleaned and lubricated. Neither attempt worked satisfactorily. The popping noise continues. 23,000 miles on odometer. Continues to be perfect second car. No issues after front axle noise was fixed. The LEAF will travel 150 miles on $5 worth of electricity. At current gas prices of $4/gal, my Honda needs $20 of gas to travel 150 miles. Odometer now at 27,000 miles. Almost no service required other than tire rotation. This car was my best performing investment over the last twelve months with its value increasing over 25%. Battery range on a full charge continues to be just over 150 miles. Very satisfied. Now over 34,000 miles. Going strong with no issues other than minor maintenance. still running the original tires. The battery continues to charge to over 150 mile range. The Miles per kilowatt hour continue to be over 4/kWh. The leaf continues to be an excellent second car.
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